Sunday (09/01) we shopped for groceries in the early morning followed by attending Septemberfest in Schauburg. It’s one of our favorite fests because it’s huge. They have more craft booths than any other fest around, plus a huge tent with tables and chairs to enjoy your food out of the sun. And did I mention how many bathrooms are available, along with hand-washing stations? Whomever plans this fest does a phenomenal job!
We parked on the southeast side of the fest just a few blocks away, but they offer free shuttle buses from three different area schools so those are a great alternative if you’re arriving later in the day when all the neighborhood parking is gone.
First we perused the craft booths since it was early (10:30) and the food booths weren’t yet open (11 am is their opening time). Once we did make our way to the food area, we decided to try a Polish plate ($12) from KD Market.
It included polish sausage, sauerkraut, a cabbage roll, a pork pierogi & a potato pierogi with onions cooked in butter. Everything was delicious!
After the food we ended up near the stage where different school bands were performing and listened to them for awhile before checking out the pond on the premises where ducks and resident swans live.
We also got an elote “bowl” from the Melting Pot’s booth but it wasn’t a bowl, more like a very small Baskin Robbins sized cup and it wasn’t very good either. Will be avoiding that in the future!
By that point we had been there a good two hours which is a long time for us so we were tired. I would like to check out the BINGO tent next year, though.
Monday (09/02) we went to the Wood Dale Reservoir which is where our guided bird walk was supposed to be on Friday. Even though it was listed as being at Salt Creek Marsh in Itasca, they really met on the other end which is the reservoir in the adjacent town.
We saw a lot of aquatic birds, as well as the big metal ones (aka planes) since O’Hare isn’t far and apparently the reservoir is below one of their landing paths.
Afterwards we grabbed some breakfast from a local Mexican place which ironically we had gone to exactly a year ago to the day.
I also wanted to try a new drink from Dunkin (almond spice iced coffee), which was not good. I don’t know why I keep trying the iced coffees at Dunkin – they always disappoint. Joe got a Nutty Pumpkin hot coffee and that was good, so I guess we should stick to the hot coffees there.
After breakfast Joe decided to wash our cars while I cleaned up the front door area, switched out the seasonal decor out front, then did some gardening out back.
This is the cute sunflower metal garden stake I found recently at Dollar Tree.
I bought a few so I can put them in back in mid-September.
We were both pretty tired after all that so we made hot dogs for lunch and relaxed the rest of the day.